Pod Insights Stuff You Should Know SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Play-Doh Works About this episode Do you love Play-Doh? Chuck and Josh certainly love to talk about it, from its interesting history as a wall cleaner, to its more scientific chemical properties. It's everything you ever wanted to know about the pliable children's toy.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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1:06 Speaker 03 Ho, ho, ho, everybody. Santa Chuck here, continuing on with our 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist. I'm gonna stop doing that silly voice, because I'm not Santa Claus, I'm just chucking. I am here to introduce, it smells good, it tastes good, I just hope it sounds good, that salty goodness of Play-Doh, How Play-Doh Works.
1:32 Speaker 04 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com.
1:42 Josh Clark? Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, there's Charles W., Chuck Bryant, and this is the first of two Stuff You Should Knows that we're recording today. My voice already sounds weird to me. What do you mean? It doesn't sound a little weird, you know, like when we get toward the end of the second one, or it gets a little...
2:00 Speaker 03 Like worn out or something?
2:02 Josh Clark? Yeah, like it's been extruded through a Play-Doh Fun Factory.
2:05 Speaker 03 Was all that a setup, or do you really feel that way?
2:08 Josh Clark? That was off the cuff, baby.
2:10 Speaker 03 Okay. No, it doesn't sound weird to me. Your voice never sounds weird unless you're sick.
2:14 Josh Clark? Jerry, Judge McCall? Yep, Jerry broke the tie, she sided with me.
2:18 Speaker 03 Well, Jerry wears headphones, but you and I fight the broadcasting business by being the only people that don't wear headphones.
2:25 Josh Clark? Or cans.
2:26 Speaker 03 I never get it. I'm like, you're two feet from me, why do I need headphones?
2:29 Josh Clark? I know, and I don't want to hear myself anyway. I don't want to hear myself better.
2:32 Speaker 03 No.
2:33 Josh Clark? It's terrible. It sounds like torture.
2:34 Speaker 03 How about this for a new SYSK t-shirt? No more cans.
2:38 Josh Clark? Okay.
2:39 Speaker 03 And just have a little X through some headphones.
2:42 Josh Clark? I think when you make a Stuff You Should Know decree from now on, we should have like a fairy wand sound effect.
2:47 Speaker 03 Yeah.
2:48 Josh Clark? Where you just like, here's this for a new t-shirt. I decree it be made into existence.
2:53 Speaker 03 Yeah, we're gonna, by the way, since I mentioned it, we're gonna have some new shirts coming soon.
2:57 Josh Clark? Yeah.
2:58 Speaker 03 Some good, like some fan designs even.
3:00 Josh Clark? Yep.
3:01 Speaker 03 Pretty excited.
3:02 Josh Clark? I'm pretty excited, yeah. And we do have some now that people can go buy, if you want.
3:07 Speaker 03 I like those first designs we had.
3:09 Josh Clark? And, well, let's just have this out on the air. It's not an argument, but let's have this discussion. Are we going to retire the original six from the contest, or should we just let them keep going in perpetuity?
3:20 Speaker 03 Oh, unless there's a reason. I think perpetuity is the way to go. Because someone might like the dancing, I don't even know what we call that.
3:27 Josh Clark? The skeleton woodcut?
3:28 Speaker 03 Yeah, parade of dancing skeletons.
3:31 Josh Clark? The macabre parade, that's what I would call it.
3:33 Speaker 03 Yeah.
3:34 Josh Clark? Does it give them, all six of them were excellent. The baby with the fly on its forehead.
3:37 Speaker 03 Still my all-time favorite.
3:38 Josh Clark? Yeah, it's good stuff. If you don't know what we're talking about, go to stuffyoushouldknow.com, our venerable website, and in the top navigation, there's a store button, and it will take you to our store, and you can see with your own very eyes what the heck we're talking about.
3:52 Speaker 03 That was off the cuff.
3:54 Josh Clark? Yeah, it was.
3:54 Speaker 03 I wasn't like, ooh, we gotta plug the t-shirts.
3:57 Josh Clark? No, no, no. You very rarely say things as fretfully as that.
4:01 Speaker 03 Okay.
4:01 Josh Clark? Ooh. Chuck.
4:03 Speaker 03 Yes.
4:04 Josh Clark? You wanna talk about Play-Doh?
4:05 Speaker 03 Yeah, we promised to do this recently, and here we are.
4:09 Josh Clark? Yeah. In my defense, it was already on the list.
4:13 Speaker 03 Oh, wow.
4:14 Josh Clark? So it's not like, you know, I'm at the beck and call of anybody's like, do Play-Doh, do this, do that. No. It was already on the list.
4:21 Speaker 03 Dance, monkey.
4:22 Josh Clark? Right. Um, did you play with Play-Doh a lot when you were a kid?
4:25 Speaker 03 Oh, I played with it. I ate it.
4:28 Josh Clark? I don't recall eating it. I do specifically recall eating the paste that was an off-brand that had a purple pirate on it.
4:39 Speaker 03 Oh.
4:39 Josh Clark? He was what? He was a pirate wearing a purple hat, and I think maybe he had an orange parrot.
4:43 Speaker 03 Yeah, was the paste, did it have a, uh, on the inside of the lid, did it have a applicator?
4:47 Josh Clark? Yes.
4:48 Speaker 03 Attached to it?
4:48 Josh Clark? Yeah.
4:49 Speaker 03 No, I totally ate that paste.
4:50 Josh Clark? That was the best tasting paste on the planet.
4:52 Speaker 03 Yeah.
4:52 Josh Clark? As a matter of fact, I think that paste might have been manufactured in part to eat. Like it's gruel served to, to like kids, some bad kids.
5:00 Speaker 03 Yeah, actually, I wanna revise my statement. I ta- I licked and tasted Play-Doh. I don't remember like swallowing it. But I remember like, you know, tasting it and then maybe even put it in my mouth and spitting it back out. But I don't think, uh, I didn't swallow.
5:14 Josh Clark? I gotcha.
5:15 Speaker 03 Yeah.
5:15 Josh Clark? Um, I never, I don't think I ever ate Play-Doh in any form or fashion, but the scent of it, it's unmistakable.
5:23 Speaker 03 Unmistakable.
5:24 Josh Clark? It's, uh, so unmistakable, in fact, that apparently back in 2006, Play-Doh or Hasbro threw a year-long celebration for Play-Doh.
5:33 Speaker 03 Sure.
5:34 Josh Clark? Which it owns, which it bought off of Kenner.
5:37 Speaker 03 Yeah.
5:37 Josh Clark? Which Kenner bought from a dude named Joe McVickers.
5:40 Speaker 03 Actually, they bought it from Tonka. Tonka bought it from Kenner.
5:43 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah. How'd I forget Tonka?
5:45 Speaker 03 Yeah, exactly.
5:46 Josh Clark? Um, and for this 50th birthday party, they had a, uh, a scent, a Play-Doh perfume released that smelled just like Play-Doh.
5:56 Speaker 03 Can you buy that, I wonder?
5:57 Josh Clark? Uh, I looked, and I think you can get it, but I don't think as easy as you could back in 2006.
6:02 Speaker 03 Yeah, I wouldn't wanna wear it. I was just curious.
6:04 Josh Clark? I think, yeah.
6:05 Speaker 03 Nostalgia. I like, I would like to smell it, but don't spray that stuff on me.
6:08 Josh Clark? I don't think you're supposed to. Wear it.
6:11 Speaker 03 Oh, is it just like, yeah, one of those things?
6:13 Josh Clark? It's a mood stabilizer.
6:14 Speaker 03 Okay.
6:15 Josh Clark? You know what I mean?
6:15 Speaker 03 Yeah.
6:16 Josh Clark? Spray in front of your face and you just go, oh, yeah, okay.
6:19 Speaker 03 Yeah, like rose water.
6:20 Josh Clark? Maybe I should put this lead pipe down and rethink things.
6:22 Speaker 03 Right. Remember when I was a kid and less violent?
6:24 Josh Clark? Right. Somebody give me some paste to eat.
6:27 Speaker 03 They should do that.
6:28 Josh Clark? Well, back when you were a kid, um, did you know much about the origin of Play- Plato?
6:33 Speaker 03 Oh, no, not at all.
6:34 Josh Clark? I didn't either until today or yesterday, when I started researching this.
6:39 Speaker 03 Yeah.
6:39 Josh Clark? Plato, everyone, and in this article by Tracy Wilson, uh, who hosts, uh, Stuff You Missed in History Class, she says that it's lore, but I've seen it all over the place. And, uh, from what I understand, it's the truth.
6:55 Speaker 03 I think it's the truth.
6:55 Josh Clark? There was a dude named Joe McVickers who had a company and his company, uh, produced, from what I understand, McVickers' invention, which was wallpaper cleaner.
7:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, they, uh, his, his father and uncle started it and they were called Kutil Products. And, uh, it was a soap company and, but their big seller was this wall cleaner because when we heated our homes with coal, your house would get coal soot on the walls.
7:21 Josh Clark? Yeah.
7:22 Speaker 03 Which is really weird to think of now.
7:23 Josh Clark? Yeah, but it's true. And your wallpaper can still get dirty, grease from cooking things, food fights, whatever.
7:31 Speaker 03 Yeah.
7:32 Josh Clark? Your wallpaper can get dirty. Let's just face facts, everybody. And McVickers' company had this putty. It was kind of a pliable, gooey putty that you slapped up against the wallpaper and rolled up and down. And it just took that soot or that grease or that spaghetti sauce clean off. And it was wallpaper cleaner.
7:52 Speaker 03 Yeah.
7:53 Josh Clark? And it was doing okay, I guess.
7:55 Speaker 03 It did great.
7:55 Josh Clark? I don't think they were like hurting necessarily. But Joe was married to a woman? Or was, his sister-in-law was a teacher?
8:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, it was.
8:06 Josh Clark? In Cincinnati.
8:07 Speaker 03 Yeah, they, uh, they sold a lot of this stuff for a while, but then natural gas came around.
8:12 Josh Clark? Uh huh.
8:12 Speaker 03 And so they fell upon hard times.
8:14 Josh Clark? Right.
8:14 Speaker 03 But, um, Joe took over from Cleo, uh, Cleo's was his father.
8:18 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
8:19 Speaker 03 And his sister-in-law, Kay Zufall of New Jersey, read about kids that were making.
8:26 Speaker 03 Christmas ornaments out of that stuff. And she said.
8:29 Josh Clark? Out of the wallpaper cleaner.
8:31 Speaker 03 Yeah, and, and, uh, much like kids do today with Play-Doh. And she said, hey, you know, we're hurting. Why don't we try and turn this stuff into a toy? And they did so. And in 1950, he made a non-toxic version, added some almond scent. And you had your first little off-white Play-Doh.
8:49 Josh Clark? Yeah, kind of exactly what you would think of when you think of a gummy colored, like, dough.
8:56 Speaker 03 Yeah.
8:57 Josh Clark? Off-white, khaki almost.
8:59 Speaker 03 Yeah.
9:00 Josh Clark? Um, and McVicker was a pretty smart dude as far as business goes. He, um, donated a bunch of cans to Cincinnati City School.
9:10 Speaker 03 Yeah, very smart.
9:11 Josh Clark? And so got these little kids hooked on Play-Doh. It was a huge hit, but it, it might have just been a regional hit. Uh, and if he hadn't have approached a dude named Captain Kangaroo.
9:22 Speaker 03 Yeah.
9:23 Josh Clark? He went to, uh, what is Captain Kangaroo's name? Bob?
9:26 Speaker 03 Bob Keishen, I think.
9:27 Josh Clark? Bob Keishen. Nice memory, Chuck.
9:29 Speaker 03 I pulled that out from, I don't know how many years ago was the last time I heard that name.
9:33 Josh Clark? He, uh, well, did you watch Captain Kangaroo?
9:35 Speaker 03 Oh, yeah.
9:36 Josh Clark? Me too.
9:36 Speaker 03 Huge fan.
9:37 Josh Clark? Loved Captain Kangaroo. I liked Captain Kangaroo more than Mr. Rogers.
9:41 Speaker 03 I liked them both. But yeah, I think I might have been, yeah, Captain Kangaroo a little bit more.
9:45 Josh Clark? It was a haircut.
9:46 Speaker 03 And I was Electric Company over Sesame Street, even.
9:49 Josh Clark? Yeah, I liked both, but I liked Electric, Electric Company more.
9:53 Speaker 03 Yeah.
9:53 Josh Clark? Uh, but I liked Pinwheel most.
9:55 Speaker 03 I didn't watch that.
9:56 Josh Clark? It was for real little kids.
9:57 Speaker 03 Oh, okay.
9:58 Josh Clark? Um, anyway, Captain Kangaroo had a show and Joe McVicker somehow got in contact with Captain Kangaroo and said, "Hey, I have a little deal for you."
10:08 Speaker 03 Yeah.
10:09 Josh Clark? "We've got this awesome stuff. The kids in Cincinnati are crazy for it." Um, we're calling it Play-Doh. Right now, it's in off-white, or it used to be, but now we have four colors. Red, blue, yellow, and white. Those are the four original colors of Play-Doh, by the way.
10:24 Speaker 03 Yeah.
10:25 Josh Clark? And he gave some to Captain Kangaroo and said, "I will give you 2% of gross sales if you mention this on your show two times a week."
10:32 Speaker 03 Yeah.
10:33 Josh Clark? He played with it?
10:33 Speaker 03 And Bob Keaton was a money grubber? That's what we all know.
10:36 Josh Clark? He, I think he believed in this product.
10:39 Speaker 03 Yeah, and he's a smart guy.
10:40 Josh Clark? He is, and he believed in it so much that he upped the, the number of mentions without any additional compensation from two times a week to as many as three times a week.
10:50 Speaker 03 Yeah.
10:50 Josh Clark? He would play with Play-Doh on TV and it just took off like a rocket from there.
10:55 Speaker 03 That was his additional compensation.
10:57 Josh Clark? That he got free Play-Doh?
10:59 Speaker 03 No, he had a percentage, so.
11:00 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah, you're right.
11:01 Speaker 03 You know what I'm saying?
11:02 Josh Clark? You're right. But it suggests that he believed in it.
11:05 Speaker 03 That's right. He did believe in it.
11:07 Josh Clark? Man, do not shatter my image of Captain Kangaroo.
11:10 Speaker 03 I'm not saying he just wanted to make more money. Of course not.
11:12 Josh Clark? Isn't that the show that Mr. Green Jeans was on?
11:14 Speaker 03 Yeah. Big fan of that guy, too. Uh, they formed the Rainbow Crafts Company, um, you know, they wanted to take it out from under the, uh, Kootol Products banner. And got famous wildlife artist John, uh, Ruthman to design that first package with, originally it was very briefly, it was an elf.
11:34 Josh Clark? Yeah.
11:34 Speaker 03 And those, I think are probably, if, if you have a can of that, you probably, it's probably in a museum or something.
11:39 Josh Clark? Yeah.
11:39 Speaker 03 That wasn't around long.
11:40 Josh Clark? No.
11:41 Speaker 03 Uh, and then they went to Play-Doh Pete. Um, the kid with the smock and the beret.
11:47 Josh Clark? Yeah.
11:47 Speaker 03 Because all little kids wore berets and smocks back then.
11:50 Josh Clark? Or you wore your dad's dress shirt like backwards.
11:54 Speaker 03 Oh, yeah.
11:54 Josh Clark? That made a good smock, too.
11:56 Speaker 03 Yeah, the one he didn't want anymore.
11:57 Josh Clark? Yeah.
11:57 Speaker 03 Or that you thought he didn't want anymore, but he really got mad at you. Cause you got paint on it.
12:02 Josh Clark? That's my good short sleeve dress shirt.
12:05 Speaker 03 Uh, and finally, it took all the way until 2002.
12:10 Speaker 03 Did the Herbal Elvis wear short sleeve dress shirts?
12:12 Josh Clark? Oh, man.
12:12 Speaker 03 Really?
12:13 Josh Clark? With slacks and ties.
12:14 Speaker 03 Yeah, my dad usually as a principal wore a coat. But when you take off the jacket and you've got the short sleeve on, that's something else.
12:24 Josh Clark? With a blue felt tip pen, a red felt tip pen, and a green felt tip pen in his pocket, front pocket.
12:31 Speaker 03 That was your dad?
12:32 Josh Clark? Yeah, he was a mechanical engineer.
12:34 Speaker 03 Oh, so each one had a different use?
12:36 Josh Clark? Yeah.
12:37 Speaker 03 Interesting.
12:37 Josh Clark? Plus, I think he also just thought they were pretty.
12:39 Speaker 03 Yeah.
12:40 Josh Clark? Like they kinda, they made his, they made his shirt pocket pop.
12:44 Speaker 03 That's where you get it, your shirt pocket thing.
12:46 Josh Clark? Right.
12:47 Speaker 03 All right. It took until 2002 for that beret to become a baseball cap.
12:52 Josh Clark? And then now he's just gone.
12:54 Speaker 03 Yeah, I was looking, he's not around anymore at all, is he?
12:56 Josh Clark? Not at all. Now it's a can with arms and the lids kind of pulled back and in between the rim of the can and the top of the lid are a couple of eyes. It looks a bit like a garbage can, but it's obviously a Play-Doh can, but just kind of, I don't like it.
13:14 Speaker 03 Yeah.
13:14 Josh Clark? I like Play-Doh Pete, the kid with the beret.
13:17 Speaker 03 Yeah, me too.
13:18 Josh Clark? He was great.
13:19 Speaker 03 That's what we grew up with, it's nostalgia.
13:21 Josh Clark? Yeah, but he was around for a really long time and now they just do away with him, like he's nothing.
13:26 Speaker 03 That's another shirt, bring back Play-Doh Pete.
13:28 Josh Clark? Yeah.
13:29 Speaker 03 And we'll get sued.
13:30 Josh Clark? Yes. Although I didn't get the impression that they were too terribly litigious.
13:35 Speaker 03 Well, plus we could tell them, we sold nine t-shirts, here's your $73.
13:39 Josh Clark? Here's your 2%.
13:41 Speaker 03 So Play-Doh, we all played with it, it was fun for modeling, but it was not like if you were like me, your hopes were dashed a bit when you modeled something and left it out overnight because you thought it would make it into a permanent exhibit.
14:00 Josh Clark? Yeah.
14:01 Speaker 03 But it would really just kind of break apart. It's not like, you can't cure it like you do modeling clay.
14:06 Josh Clark? No, I was on Play-Doh's site and they readily admit that.
14:10 Speaker 03 Yeah.
14:10 Josh Clark? As a matter of fact, they say, if you want a permanent thing, go get you some modeling clay.
14:15 Speaker 03 Yeah, get some Sculpey. I don't want to buzz mark it, but Sculpey's a lot of fun.
14:20 Josh Clark? Okay. We're talking about Play-Doh though.
14:22 Speaker 03 Yeah, but Sculpey's fun.
14:23 Josh Clark? So, but they say modeling clay, they don't say Sculpey, but they say if you want to make a permanent thing, go get some modeling clay. It's not what Play-Doh's for.
14:30 Speaker 03 Nope, it's for being in the moment, making fun things, and then smashing those and then putting it back in the can.
14:37 Josh Clark? Right.
14:38 Speaker 03 Doing it all over again every day.
14:39 Josh Clark? And driving your mom crazy because she can't stand colors to be mixed together. So she sits there and like picks them apart or whatever.
14:46 Speaker 03 Or it's in the orange shag carpet.
14:48 Josh Clark? Which, again, Hasbro has some helpful suggestions for how to clean this stuff up.
14:54 Speaker 03 Sure.
14:55 Josh Clark? Number one, and you will understand eventually by the end of this podcast why, do not use warm water when you're cleaning up Play-Doh from the carpet.
15:04 Speaker 03 Yeah.
15:05 Josh Clark? It will make everything a million times worse.
15:07 Speaker 03 Yeah.
15:08 Josh Clark? What they say, if possible, if you have the patience of Job, just go ahead and let this thing dry, turn brittle, use a stiff brush, and just kind of brush it out of the carpet, vacuum it up, boom.
15:22 Speaker 03 Yeah, or do the reasonable thing and get hardwood floors.
15:26 Josh Clark? We'll discuss that very soon, after this message.
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17:01 Speaker 03 Alright, so Play-Doh is fun enough on its own. Like, when I was a kid, I had zero accoutrement to go along with my Play-Doh.
17:09 Josh Clark? I don't recall having anything but just the Play-Doh, too.
17:12 Speaker 03 All I had was the Play-Doh in my imagination. And in 1960, they said, "You know what? Let's get a couple of engineers from General Electric to design what's gonna be called the Fun Factory."
17:23 Josh Clark? That's like, that was it.
17:24 Speaker 03 That was it. Then you could put Play-Doh into various forms and molds and press it and have it come out like sausage or spaghetti, or just whatever they decided to design. Like, have you been to the site recently?
17:37 Josh Clark? Yeah.
17:38 Speaker 03 There are hundreds of different things that you can buy now with your Play-Doh, of course.
17:41 Josh Clark? Yes, for sure. And different types of Play-Doh, too, to make different-looking things as well.
17:46 Speaker 03 Yeah.
17:47 Josh Clark? But the original Fun Factory thing is basically just a hand-pushed lever
17:51 Speaker 03 Yeah.
17:52 Josh Clark? that shoved the Play-Doh inside through a hole.
17:56 Speaker 03 It was a sausage grinder.
17:57 Josh Clark? And then, basically.
17:58 Speaker 03 Yeah.
17:58 Josh Clark? And then in front of the hole, you had just kind of like different shapes that you could make this thing into.
18:05 Speaker 03 Yep.
18:05 Josh Clark? What'd you say, spaghetti?
18:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, like spaghetti or a big thick rope. Oh, yeah.
18:09 Josh Clark? And the rope, speaking of the rope, all of these are basically what it is, is an extruder.
18:14 Speaker 03 Yeah.
18:14 Josh Clark? This is a Play-Doh extruder is what these guys came up with. And I guarantee they had colored felt-tip pens in the fronts of their pockets, too, when they designed this thing. But this, if you took all the Play-Doh, by the way, here's a Play-Doh Fun Fact. If you took all the Play-Doh ever created and ran it through the Fun Factory and extruded it into one long rope?
18:35 Speaker 03 Yeah.
18:36 Josh Clark? It would wrap around the Earth 3,000 times.
18:39 Speaker 03 How many Big Macs is that?
18:41 Josh Clark? No, I'm sorry, it would wrap around the Earth 300 times. Let's not, let's not go crazy.
18:45 Speaker 03 Oh, only 300?
18:46 Josh Clark? Yeah, and you could go to the moon and back 10 times with that rope. You could make a pretty good little bridge that would be kinda crumbly by the next day.
18:54 Speaker 03 Yeah.
18:55 Josh Clark? But it'd be colorful.
18:56 Speaker 03 That's right.
18:58 Josh Clark? That's a lot of Play-Doh, man.
18:59 Speaker 03 Yeah, they've sold nine hundred and fifty million pounds of this stuff.
19:03 Josh Clark? Mm-hmm.
19:04 Speaker 03 More than two billion cans since nineteen fifty-six.
19:06 Josh Clark? Yeah, and they apparently make about a hundred million cans every year.
19:10 Speaker 03 Yeah.
19:11 Josh Clark? What I find heartening is, those are current statistics.
19:14 Speaker 03 They're not rated for inflation?
19:16 Josh Clark? No, but um, this article that Tracy wrote was apparently written in two thousand and six.
19:21 Speaker 03 Yeah.
19:22 Josh Clark? And she said that they make ninety-five million cans. So they've upped their production by five million cans a year, which means Play-Doh's not going anywhere.
19:29 Speaker 03 That's right.
19:29 Josh Clark? I'm pretty psyched about that.
19:31 Speaker 03 Yeah, and all the stuff they have now, like, um, they've got all sorts of licensing deals, like, they have, like, the Play-Doh Disney princess set, and
19:38 Josh Clark? Right.
19:38 Speaker 03 you can make dresses for your Disney princess out of Play-Doh.
19:41 Josh Clark? And um, they have a longstanding tradition, too, of making fake food.
19:45 Speaker 03 Oh, yeah.
19:45 Josh Clark? Like, I was, I was watching some, um, I wouldn't really call it documentary, it was almost just a compilation of Play-Doh ads over the years.
19:54 Speaker 03 Yeah.
19:54 Josh Clark? And um, there's one from the eighties where you could make Pizza Hut pizzas out of Play-Doh.
19:59 Speaker 03 I think I remember that.
20:00 Josh Clark? Nowadays, they have, um, like, a, kind of a sweet shop, I think, is the name of the line.
20:05 Speaker 03 Uh-huh.
20:05 Josh Clark? And like I said, they have different types of Play-Doh, some are squishier and thinner and more pliable, so you can use those to make the frosting.
20:12 Speaker 03 Yeah.
20:12 Josh Clark? And use ra- regular Play-Doh to make the, the actual cupcake.
20:16 Speaker 03 That's because the cupcake craze, I bet.
20:18 Josh Clark? Yeah, probably.
20:19 Speaker 03 It's filtered down to kids, and with the gluten-free craze, um, on their website, it says, "Contains gluten."
20:27 Josh Clark? Yeah, it has wheat.
20:28 Speaker 03 Yeah, but they, like, have to advertise that now because your child will want to eat the Play-Doh. And if you have your kid off gluten, they can't eat the Play-Doh.
20:36 Josh Clark? No.
20:36 Speaker 03 And mommy has to explain that, or daddy.
20:38 Josh Clark? But if your kid has a peanut allergy, or um, a milk allergy.
20:45 Speaker 03 Yeah.
20:45 Josh Clark? You're fine.
20:46 Speaker 03 That's right. Water, salt, and flour, uh, is the general, I mean, it's a, it's a very proprietary recipe, obviously.
20:55 Josh Clark? Right, it's a US patent number six, seven, one, three, six, two, four.
21:01 Speaker 03 But if you look that up, you're not gonna find the ingredients.
21:03 Josh Clark? No, like you said, it's proprietary. They, they do give kind of like a general ingredient list somewhere, I guess, in the patent itself.
21:14 Speaker 03 Yeah.
21:15 Josh Clark? But yeah, they're not gonna tell you like how to make it.
21:18 Speaker 03 But we'll list those really quickly, and then we're gonna talk about chemistry.
21:22 Josh Clark? Yeah, we're gonna get to the chemical molecular basis of Play-Doh itself.
21:27 Speaker 03 But in broad terms, it is water. You got a starch-based binder, you have a retrogradation inhibitor, because you have to inhibit that retrogradation.
21:36 Josh Clark? Sure.
21:36 Speaker 03 Uh, salt. No, there's salt in there. In fact, at one point, it was too salty, and they had to get a new chemist to remove some of the salt.
21:45 Josh Clark? Is that right?
21:46 Speaker 03 Yeah, but you remember how salty it tasted?
21:49 Josh Clark? No, I didn't. I never tasted it.
21:50 Speaker 03 Oh, you didn't?
21:51 Josh Clark? No, I said-
21:51 Speaker 03 I thought you said you tasted it.
21:52 Josh Clark? No, I said I never did. I ate the paste.
21:54 Speaker 03 Oh, okay.
21:55 Josh Clark? I'd never tasted it, but the smell was-
21:56 Speaker 03 Was the paste salty?
21:59 Josh Clark? No.
22:00 Speaker 03 No?
22:00 Josh Clark? No, it had a weird sweet taste to it. It wasn't overly sweet, but of all of the tastes-
22:06 Speaker 03 Just sweet enough to get a kid to eat it.
22:09 Josh Clark? Right.
22:10 Speaker 03 Uh, salt, you got your lubricant, and all this will make sense in a bit. A surfactant, a preservative, a hardener, a humectant, a fragrance, of course, and color. Uh, I know we used almond for the first fragrance, but I wonder if it's still an offshoot of that? Does it smell like almond?
22:28 Josh Clark? From what I saw, they've admitted to vanilla.
22:31 Speaker 03 Oh, really?
22:32 Josh Clark? That's all I've seen.
22:33 Speaker 03 Okay.
22:33 Josh Clark? And they're saying like, that doesn't tell us anything.
22:36 Speaker 03 That's all they admitted to?
22:37 Josh Clark? Yeah.
22:37 Speaker 03 Under questioning?
22:38 Josh Clark? Yeah. Um, but the, the colors, we should also say, chuckers. Um, they originally had red, yellow, and blue, the primary colors. Then they added white, and this is all in the 50s. And those were the only colors until the 80s.
22:51 Speaker 03 Wow.
22:52 Josh Clark? And then they added a couple more, and they had eight colors total. And then now today, it's like a whole rainbow, a whole galaxy-
22:59 Speaker 03 Yeah.
22:59 Josh Clark? -of different colors.
23:00 Speaker 03 I never got the white, because it just, it looked dirty so quickly.
23:04 Josh Clark? Yeah.
23:05 Speaker 03 I never really understood the purpose of the white.
23:07 Josh Clark? I liked it. I thought it was a nice juxtaposition with the primary colors.
23:10 Speaker 03 Yeah?
23:11 Josh Clark? Yeah.
23:12 Speaker 03 You were an artist.
23:13 Josh Clark? No, I was just a connoisseur.
23:15 Speaker 03 All right, so now, um- The rest of the show, we're gonna talk about chemistry.
23:21 Josh Clark? You're not happy about this, are you?
23:22 Speaker 03 Well.
23:23 Josh Clark? What'd you think about this article?
23:24 Speaker 03 I thought it was, it was good, you know, cuz that's what HowStuffWorks does, is they tell the story behind things. Like, we can't just talk about surfing, we have to talk about the physics of a wave.
23:33 Josh Clark? Right.
23:33 Speaker 03 I get that.
23:36 Speaker 03 But yeah, chemistry was not my bag, baby.
23:38 Josh Clark? This one, um, this one kissing and roller coasters, you're kind of like, you had a little bit of protest going on. Like, come on, this is fun stuff.
23:47 Speaker 03 Yeah, when you're talking about kissing, you wanna talk about, you know.
23:50 Josh Clark? Remember the title of it was "A Rigid, Sterile Look at Kissing"?
23:53 Speaker 03 Well, I don't know if the title for this will end up being what I wanted, but it was gonna be "Taking the Fun Out of Play-Doh."
23:59 Josh Clark? Nah. Let's call it "How Play-Doh Works."
24:02 Speaker 03 Alright, but you heard it here. That was my.
24:04 Josh Clark? That was the working title?
24:06 Speaker 03 Yeah.
24:07 Josh Clark? Alright, well, I will kick the chemistry off, and maybe I will spark your interest. Are you ready?
24:15 Speaker 03 Yes.
24:15 Josh Clark? Do you have your beret and your smock on?
24:17 Speaker 03 This isn't even the fun chemistry you get to burn things.
24:20 Josh Clark? No, this is the chemistry of compounds. You're just adding them together.
24:24 Speaker 03 Ugh.
24:24 Josh Clark? You know, there's a little heat involved, as we'll see, so.
24:27 Speaker 03 Possibly, yeah.
24:28 Josh Clark? You could start that flame.
24:29 Speaker 03 Okay.
24:29 Josh Clark? Okay, so, um, the whole basis of Play-Doh, it turns out, is an interaction between starch and water.
24:38 Speaker 03 That's right.
24:38 Josh Clark? And starches are, um, they're polysaccharides, which are sugar molecules.
24:43 Speaker 03 Mm-hmm.
24:43 Josh Clark? And there's basically two varieties, or two types, that combine. There's amylose, and there's amylopectin.
24:51 Speaker 03 That's right.
24:52 Josh Clark? And amylose is like a string.
24:53 Speaker 03 Mm-hmm.
24:54 Josh Clark? Amylopectin is branched, and when they get together, they form a starburst shape. They form a molecule in a starburst shape. And it's arranged around a central area, a hollow.
25:06 Speaker 03 Yeah.
25:06 Josh Clark? Called a hyalum? H I L U M?
25:09 Speaker 03 I'm going with the H I L U M.
25:10 Josh Clark? And it's all held together thanks to hydrogen bonds. And then you have all that, these polysaccharide chains all mixed together with hydrogen bonds forming a starburst. And my friend, you have a starch molecule. And when you have the starch molecule, you have one of the two bases of Play-Doh.
25:27 Speaker 03 Yeah, and this one, this article does have some pretty handy illustrations. If hearing this doesn't make as much sense, you can follow along on your own computer. And look at the illustrations. If you add cold water to starch, the granules are going to absorb some. But when things really get interesting is when you add warm water. Or when you heat up that cold water to be warm water. Like you can mix it ahead of time and then warm it up. And basically what you're doing is making a gelatin. Just like when you make Jell-O, it's got to be warm water.
26:01 Josh Clark? Right, like if you've ever had like cornstarch or flour or whatever, and you add cold water to it, they just kind of separate, right?
26:09 Speaker 03 Yeah, it's really untoward.
26:10 Josh Clark? It doesn't do much. It's almost like the starch protects itself against the cold. It's like, brrrr. You stay over there cold water. But when you use warm water or a mechanical action of mixing it together, it forms, like you said, it gelatinizes.
26:24 Speaker 03 That's right.
26:24 Josh Clark? And now you're starting to get the basis of Play-Doh. But the problem is, when you just add warm water and the starch, in this case, it's wheat starch that they use, right? Because they have to warn against gluten. When you add those two things, they mix together well. They form a nice gelatinous goo. But as it dries, you've got the problem of retrogradation.
26:50 Speaker 03 That's right.
26:51 Josh Clark? And that's trouble.
26:52 Speaker 03 Yeah, because it really depends on the breakdown of amylose to amylopectin is the key. If you have a lot of amylose, it's going to take more swelling to gelatineize.
27:04 Josh Clark? Right, but you get a nice, robust... Gel.
27:07 Speaker 03 Yeah.
27:08 Josh Clark? When you have a lot of amylose, but the problem is that excess amylose separates some from the water, binds to itself, and then you have something that's not a full compound anymore. It's basically like a couple of, it's like you've got that gel and then some extra amylose and it's dry and brittle and it's not good.
27:26 Speaker 03 Well, yeah, and in the case of making a product for kids to play with, it's too firm. Like they had to get this recipe just right to make it firm, but still pliable.
27:34 Josh Clark? Right.
27:35 Speaker 03 And a lot of, a lot of work went into this, I'm sure.
27:38 Josh Clark? Yeah, because anytime, like they started with a starch and a water, put it together, fantastic. But then that created this problem.
27:45 Speaker 03 Yep.
27:45 Josh Clark? And then when they went to solve this problem, it created this problem. So then they had to solve it with this problem. And then after adding like seven things, they finally have this like precariously balanced compound.
27:56 Speaker 03 That's perfect.
27:57 Josh Clark? That's perfect. But it's pretty neat. It's really complicated and it's self-complicating, which I find very interesting.
28:04 Speaker 03 It is, and what they ended up settling with as far as percentages go for that wheat starch was 25% amylose and 75% amylopectin. They found that to be the secret sauce.
28:14 Josh Clark? Right.
28:15 Speaker 03 As our buddy Chad likes to say.
28:16 Josh Clark? And the reason they have the amylopectin is because the amylopectin is a waxy starch and it keeps the amylose from binding to itself. So you have, you've prevented that retrogradation problem.
28:31 Speaker 03 Yeah.
28:31 Josh Clark? Right? Where the amylose separates from the water and just binds to itself. The problem is now that you have this extra amylopectin, the amylopectin, it keeps the whole thing together, but it does it too much, and now you have a sticky tacky compound.
28:46 Speaker 03 Yeah, you don't want it sticky.
28:47 Josh Clark? No, and anybody's ever played with Play-Doh and tried to make some, you can't make it sticky. It'll stick to your hands or it'll stick to itself. It's not going to make a cheeseburger like that.
28:55 Speaker 03 No.
28:55 Josh Clark? No. So they added something else, a lubricant.
29:00 Speaker 03 That's right. In this case, I don't know if it's, that's part of the, the secret or not, but it's probably some sort of a vegetable oil or mineral oil.
29:09 Josh Clark? Well, they think possibly it's, it's a mineral oil which is derived from petroleum, which petroleum, which is why. It's non-toxic, but you still shouldn't eat it.
29:17 Speaker 03 Yeah, I did see that there was petroleum. I bet you they're going to come out with a gluten-free Play-Doh.
29:21 Josh Clark? I'm surprised they haven't already.
29:23 Speaker 03 But that. Would almost be like admitting your child is eating this or can't eat it.
29:29 Josh Clark? Well, some of that new stuff, like the sweet shop stuff.
29:32 Speaker 03 Yeah.
29:32 Josh Clark? I'm actually, I would be very surprised if they hadn't done some R and D of different flavored Play-Doh.
29:40 Speaker 03 Right.
29:41 Josh Clark? You know, because they have the different colors and this is supposed to look like this frosting, this is supposed to look like this frosting. So I wonder if they were like, well, we can make this taste like vanilla or, or, you know, cotton candy or whatever. But yeah, and then they kind of shook their heads off and were like, wait, wait, wait, we can't have kids eating this stuff.
29:57 Speaker 03 Or I wonder if they've done R and D on how much of it you can eat before it makes you sick.
30:01 Josh Clark? Surely.
30:02 Speaker 03 Like if they're making something that looks like a cupcake.
30:04 Josh Clark? Yeah.
30:06 Speaker 03 Some kid is probably gonna eat that entire thing at some point.
30:08 Josh Clark? And like we said, they've pretty much always been like, you can make fake food with this.
30:12 Speaker 03 Yeah.
30:13 Josh Clark? Pizza Hut gave us money to do this.
30:15 Speaker 03 But don't eat it.
30:16 Josh Clark? Right. It's a weird mixed message.
30:18 Speaker 03 It is a totally mixed message.
30:20 Josh Clark? But you were saying they use the petroleum oil for, as a lubricant.
30:23 Speaker 03 Yeah, and that keeps it from being all sticky. So if you've ever played with it, you know it like it's very pliable. Um, and moist, but it's not gonna stick to your fingers, which is the key.
30:32 Josh Clark? Right. So you have added the mineral oil or some sort of lubricant.
30:37 Speaker 03 Yep.
30:38 Josh Clark? To prevent the extra amylopectin from making it sticky. And the whole reason you added amylopectin was because too much amylose can cause retrogradation. So you've got all these solutions and you've got the lubricant solution. The problem is you can't just put like, you can't just drop it into lubricant and expect it to stick. The lubricant won't bind within this compound.
31:02 Speaker 03 Yeah.
31:03 Josh Clark? So you have to add yet another thing, the surfactant.
31:07 Speaker 03 Yeah, surfactants you'll see in a lot of household cleansing products if you use that chemical junk to clean your house. But a surface active agent is another name for it. And it basically, they're artificially manufactured, they're molecules, but it's gonna suspend something in water. It's the whole key to being a surfactant.
31:28 Josh Clark? Imagine a surfactant has two ends. And one end is hydrophilic, which means it attracts water and is attracted to water. And the other is hydrophobic, which means it repels water. And it's actually attracted to fats, lipids, right?
31:41 Speaker 03 Yeah, or afraid of it even.
31:42 Josh Clark? The cool thing about a surfactant is that if you take it and you throw it into a solution of water and oil, fats and waters, right? It, one end will attract the fat molecules and another end will attract the water molecules. And what, the end result of all of this is that you can basically suspend fats in water or water in fats. So that you have, effectively, molecularly speaking, something, a compound that's all mixed together. It's not gonna separate like oil and water because the whole thing's being held together by surfactants.
32:18 Speaker 03 That's right.
32:19 Josh Clark? That's pretty amazing.
32:20 Speaker 03 Yeah, it actually binds to the molecules of the lubricant. It's a chemical reaction is taking place.
32:25 Josh Clark? And keeps them all mixed together. It won't allow them to separate. So, we've got the lubricant in there.
32:30 Speaker 03 Yeah.
32:30 Josh Clark? The whole thing's being held in place by their surfactant.
32:34 Speaker 03 All lubed up, ready to go.
32:35 Josh Clark? We've got a little extra water, Chuck. What are we gonna do?
32:38 Speaker 03 Well, I don't think we mentioned earlier, the reason it dries out to begin with, if you leave it out overnight, is just because of evaporation.
32:44 Josh Clark? Right, and Hasbro recommends that if this happens, you take your Play-Doh modeling clay.
32:49 Speaker 03 Yeah.
32:50 Josh Clark? And you wrap it in like a damp paper towel, put it back in the camp, put the cover on it, leave it overnight, should be good as new.
32:56 Speaker 03 Yeah, and I've seen you can also add a little water to it as well.
32:59 Josh Clark? Yeah.
32:59 Speaker 03 But I've never tried that. So, that, my friend, is, it's a very fine tuned mixture. Like you said, they had to, I'm sure it took a lot of work over the years to get it just exactly right. And we're gonna learn how you can make your own, right after this break.
33:17 Speaker 07 This stress check, aka friendly reminder that your hobbies matter, is brought to you by State Farm because you deserve to lose yourself in the stuff that brings you joy. Here's mine: painting my tabletop battle miniatures. Yeah, seriously. After a long day, I grab a brush, pop in some music, and just get into it. And there's no wrong way to do it. It helps me clear my head, slow down, and just breathe. But it works. Big stress, mini warriors, total reset. No pressure, just paint, creativity, and a little reminder of what makes me happy. Some people bake, some people garden. Me? I paint warriors with interesting tech. And guess what? It works. You don't have
33:59 Speaker 07 to be good at your hobby, you just have to enjoy it. So carve out that time, tune out the noise, and do something that's just for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
34:10 Josh Clark? I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I spoke with Dr. Laura Jayhai of Cleveland Clinic about how advanced computing is helping shorten the path from medical discovery to treatment.
34:23 Speaker 04 The moment that there is a compound that someone in a lab thinks it would be effective to treat a certain disease, it takes about 10 to 13 years from that moment to when that drug is on a shelf for a patient. A big part of that gap could be computationally solved. Better simulation of compounds, designing drug trials that are more efficient, that would finish faster. That was the motivation to bring computational tools and technology closer to biomedical researchers.
34:58 Josh Clark? Learn more about how Cleveland Clinic and IBM are using AI and quantum computing to revolutionize biomedical research at ibm.com/smarttalks.
35:13 Josh Clark? So Chuck.
35:13 Speaker 03 Yeah.
35:14 Josh Clark? Uh, we should've said, there's a couple of other things that they add, like you get excess water.
35:18 Speaker 03 Yeah.
35:18 Josh Clark? So they added a little salt.
35:20 Speaker 03 Yeah, sure.
35:20 Josh Clark? And apparently for the excess salt, they brought in a new chemist.
35:23 Speaker 03 Yeah.
35:23 Josh Clark? So it's just fine, perfectly fine tuned.
35:26 Speaker 03 Yeah.
35:26 Josh Clark? Stuff.
35:26 Speaker 03 And you gotta color it, of course, and, and give it its scent.
35:29 Josh Clark? Yep. Um, and then, uh, possibly make it taste in the future. Who knows? I'm betting on that.
35:38 Speaker 03 Yeah. And you know, the salt also adds a little antimicrobial element to it.
35:42 Josh Clark? Right.
35:42 Speaker 03 Which is nice.
35:43 Josh Clark? It was, so it has, it acts as a preservative as well. Um, and to make Play-Doh, you just put all this stuff in these, um, in the right measurements and apply heat to it and mix it together and package it. And that's Play-Doh.
35:57 Speaker 03 Yeah. And it's gotta have that shelf life. Like this is, it's really hard to come up with a product like this that meets all those needs and will still like, you know, I'm sure there were times early on where like, oh, this stuff's two weeks old on the shelf. It's like a brick. Back to the drawing board.
36:12 Josh Clark? Yep.
36:13 Speaker 03 Put on your beret.
36:14 Josh Clark? Yeah.
36:14 Speaker 03 And your smock.
36:15 Josh Clark? Remember in our How Twinkies Works episode, they dealt with that initially.
36:19 Speaker 03 Oh, the shelf life?
36:20 Josh Clark? Yeah.
36:20 Speaker 03 Right. And so they just made it infinity.
36:23 Josh Clark? Man, that was such a good episode.
36:24 Speaker 03 That was good.
36:25 Josh Clark? One of my all-time favorites.
36:26 Speaker 03 Agreed. We still get emails from people that are like, I found the banana Twinkies.
36:30 Josh Clark? Yeah. They, they have them in like, um, limited release from once in a while.
36:34 Speaker 03 Yeah.
36:34 Josh Clark? I have yet to try one.
36:37 Speaker 03 I remember trying one years ago, but it wasn't my bag. I don't like banana flavored things, but I like bananas.
36:43 Josh Clark? You're a very complex man, Chuck.
36:44 Speaker 03 Well, they don't, they don't quite get it right. I don't think ever. I've never tasted a banana flavored thing that got it right.
36:50 Josh Clark? Gotcha.
36:50 Speaker 03 I'm hard to please.
36:52 Josh Clark? So, um, man, you just totally threw me off. What were we talking about?
36:56 Speaker 03 We were, I think we were to the point where we're gonna make our own, right?
36:58 Josh Clark? Right. So it's very tough to make, until you come upon the recipe. But apparently a lot of people, even though it's a proprietary recipe, a lot of people have come up with their own recipes for Play-Doh.
37:10 Speaker 03 Sure. And it's fun to do with your kid, you know? Like if they like playing with it, then. You can teach them a little chemistry along the way.
37:16 Josh Clark? Right.
37:17 Speaker 03 Make it a learning moment.
37:17 Josh Clark? If you want to save some money.
37:21 Speaker 03 That too.
37:21 Josh Clark? Or you don't want to feed the corporate beast.
37:23 Speaker 03 That too.
37:25 Josh Clark? Or, yeah, you just want to do something with your kid and make it, you can do all this stuff. It just takes a little elbow grease and work and there's recipes all over the internet. There's some for like glow in the dark Play-Doh.
37:35 Speaker 03 Oh, really?
37:36 Josh Clark? There's some for glittery Play-Doh. There's a couple of recipes in this article on how stuff works. But basically, you're doing the same thing. You're adding starch.
37:46 Speaker 03 Yeah.
37:46 Josh Clark? To water. You're adding some sort of lubricant to it, something to hold the whole thing together. Uh, in this recipe, it's a cream of tartar.
37:54 Speaker 03 Yes.
37:55 Josh Clark? Which stiffens eggs and gives Play-Doh, homemade Play-Doh, its firmness. But there's a lot of recipes online that if you want to not only just play with Play-Doh with your kid, but make it. That's a great chemistry teaching experience, I think.
38:11 Speaker 03 Agreed, and you can explain, um, you know, what each ingredient is doing. And then at the very end, you're gonna have Play-Doh and your kid's gonna say, this Play-Doh stinks. It's not nearly as good as the real thing.
38:23 Josh Clark? Unless it's the peanut butter variety. Then I'll bet you're like, ooh, this is tasty Play-Doh.
38:29 Speaker 03 Do they have that?
38:30 Josh Clark? Yeah, there's a recipe for it in this article.
38:32 Speaker 03 So peanut butter is one of the ingredients?
38:34 Josh Clark? Yes.
38:35 Speaker 03 Interesting.
38:35 Josh Clark? Yeah, or, you know what? You could make it with your kid while you listen to us stumble through the explanation.
38:43 Speaker 03 Yeah.
38:44 Josh Clark? And to everybody who's doing that right now, hello. Hello, everyone.
38:49 Speaker 03 And your kid's gonna say, who are these jerks and why does my Play-Doh not work?
38:53 Josh Clark? Can we just go to the store and buy some Play-Doh, please?
38:56 Speaker 03 Yep.
38:56 Josh Clark? Yeah, well, we're portable. We go around on MP3 players, so we can go to the store with you too.
39:01 Speaker 03 Exactly.
39:02 Josh Clark? Uh, what else you got?
39:03 Speaker 03 And then you can listen to our episode on temper tantrums on the way to the store.
39:07 Josh Clark? That was a good one, too.
39:08 Speaker 03 It was.
39:09 Josh Clark? What else you got?
39:10 Speaker 03 Uh, I've got nothing else.
39:12 Josh Clark? I got plenty more.
39:13 Speaker 03 Oh, well, please.
39:15 Josh Clark? Mr. Bill, remember him? From Saturday Night Live?
39:18 Speaker 03 Of course.
39:18 Josh Clark? He was made of Play-Doh.
39:20 Speaker 03 Yeah.
39:20 Josh Clark? They made the first Mr. Bill short for 20 bucks.
39:24 Speaker 03 That's pretty good stuff. What else you got? Fun facts? Play-Doh fun facts?
39:28 Josh Clark? There's a, uh, there's not, not just one, but two at least. Play-Doh 3D printers on the market right now.
39:36 Speaker 03 Really?
39:36 Josh Clark? Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
39:38 Speaker 03 So you put a hunk of it in there?
39:39 Josh Clark? Uh huh, different hunks in there.
39:40 Speaker 03 Oh, no, no, no, and it, and it, uh, I was about to say a hunk in there and then it whittles it down, but that's the opposite of 3D printer.
39:45 Josh Clark? No, no, it extrudes it, it builds up.
39:48 Speaker 03 Yeah, that's crazy.
39:49 Josh Clark? There's one on ThinkGeek for like 50 bucks that, um, plugs into your iPad, so it, that's where your schematics are and it tells it what to do and it makes pretty cool little 3D Play-Doh stuff.
40:00 Speaker 03 That's kinda fun.
40:01 Josh Clark? It is, uh, at the same time, it's kind of like, you know, I mean, you're, you're really building a little geek there, but the imagination and the hands-on thing's kinda taken out of it a little bit.
40:12 Speaker 03 Well, I think that's the new imagination, my friend.
40:15 Josh Clark? I guess so. To follow forms and schematics to a T.
40:20 Speaker 03 Maybe so. It would be cool as if you could design your own schematic. And then
40:26 Josh Clark? Which I'm sure you can.
40:27 Speaker 03 Yeah.
40:27 Josh Clark? Um, and then Play-Doh has one called the Do Vinci.
40:30 Speaker 03 I saw that.
40:31 Josh Clark? Um, and that's a 3D printer too. And then one other thing I found, we were talking about Play-Doh ads earlier. There is a series of banned Play-Doh ads that were published in Singapore a couple of years back.
40:46 Speaker 03 Oh, banned as in, I thought you meant like banned recorded music?
40:49 Josh Clark? No, no, like B-A-N-N-E-D.
40:51 Speaker 03 Yeah.
40:51 Josh Clark? Taboo Play-Doh ads that are very, uh, adult centric.
40:56 Speaker 03 Really?
40:57 Josh Clark? Yeah, that, um,
40:58 Speaker 03 Can you say what?
41:00 Josh Clark? Well, how about this?
41:01 Speaker 03 Yeah.
41:02 Josh Clark? I made a slideshow of them on our site.
41:03 Speaker 03 Ah.
41:04 Josh Clark? You can go check them out, they're pretty crazy.
41:06 Speaker 03 Okay.
41:07 Josh Clark? Um, they're not like naked or not adult in that way, but like kinda violent and a little dark. Um, that this ad agency made. Basically without the approval of Hasbro.
41:17 Speaker 03 Yeah, clearly.
41:19 Josh Clark? And Hasbro came in and denounced it and everything, but they're pretty great. So if you go to stuffyoushouldknow.com and search banned Play-Doh ads, it will come up.
41:28 Speaker 03 And Hasbro had a news release that says, "We don't endorse this use of Play-Doh brand multiple clay."
41:35 Speaker 03 They just kept working the name in there.
41:36 Josh Clark? Yeah, but it's pretty crazy. I learned all about something called scam ads where advertising agencies basically create ad campaigns based around brand names without the brand name's permission, simply to submit them for awards consideration, to expand their prestige.
41:55 Speaker 03 Interesting. Well, and if you want to be a TV commercial director, you have probably made some spec or fake ads yourself.
42:03 Josh Clark? Right.
42:03 Speaker 03 Just to have on your reel. Like, you know, I'm gonna make a Dorito. Well, Doritos does that contest every year.
42:08 Josh Clark? Right. So this is that same thing, but sometimes they really run afoul of like the spirit of the brand.
42:14 Speaker 03 Sure.
42:16 Josh Clark? And there's scam ads.
42:17 Speaker 03 Yeah, they're like European commercials, which are always way better. And risque and like funny.
42:22 Josh Clark? Yeah.
42:24 Speaker 03 Get with it, America.
42:25 Josh Clark? So if you want to learn more about Play-Doh, including a few Play-Doh recipes, you can type Play-Doh into the search bar at howstuffworks.com. And since it says "search bar," it's time for listener mail.
42:36 Speaker 03 I'm gonna call this another MPAA, called the Golden F-Bomb. "Hey, guys, I discovered your show." And he says hello to Jerry and spelled her name right, too.
42:46 Josh Clark? Oh, that was nice.
42:47 Speaker 03 Which doesn't happen often.
42:48 Josh Clark? No.
42:49 Speaker 03 The spelling, that is.
42:51 Speaker 03 "I discovered your podcast while looking for something interesting to listen to while I worked on my organic farm in Kauai."
42:59 Speaker 03 "I heard the MPAA show and I just had to write in. Growing up, my friends and I were always looking for a way to sneak into movie theaters. Either exit door, having an older friend or parent buy us tickets, using a ticket, single ticket stub, pass back through to get in on the same ticket, etc." He had all sorts of ways of stealing. Our goal was to get into an R-rated movie underage with NC-17 being the ultimate prize. PG-13 always felt like we had failed or were settling, so to make it fun, we would count how many expletives were, we heard, and compare notes after the movie. He really took things to a different level.
43:34 Josh Clark? Yeah, it must have been a time when movies weren't as good as they are today in the theaters.
43:40 Speaker 03 No, movies have never been this bad.
43:42 Josh Clark? I know, man. It is really out of control.
43:45 Speaker 03 It's terrible. Uh, one pattern we soon realized was that PG-13 movies are allotted one F-bomb. Uh, listening for that one F-bomb became the looked-for moment, making the PG-13 movie experience a tad more interesting, and something I look out for to this day, still. Uh, there are some real classics, including Ron Burgundy's in Anchorman, uh, most recently in Skyfall, when Judi Dench uses that naughty word.
44:10 Josh Clark? She did? I don't remember that. Judi?
44:12 Speaker 03 The first one in the Bond series, he claims.
44:13 Josh Clark? Judi, Judi, Judi.
44:15 Speaker 03 Oh, I just saw Philomena, by the way, finally.
44:17 Josh Clark? What did you think?
44:18 Speaker 03 It was fantastic.
44:19 Josh Clark? Was that just an amazing change of pace for her? She always plays like the sharp, pulled-together, like
44:24 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah.
44:25 Josh Clark? Like boss lady, and like in this one, she was just kind of just working class. God, that was a good movie.
44:30 Speaker 03 It was really good.
44:30 Josh Clark? Love that movie.
44:31 Speaker 03 Highly recommended. Um, and then I noticed, uh, the rating rule is not ironclad, however, because recent examples of Lincoln and Philomena, hey, how about that, had two of those naughty words apiece.
44:44 Josh Clark? Lincoln had it in there, huh? So that Spielberg gets away with anything.
44:48 Speaker 03 Well, he's the one that had the whole thing changed.
44:50 Josh Clark? Oh, yeah, he was the one that created it, didn't he?
44:52 Speaker 03 PG-13, yeah, and then he ran afoul of it.
44:56 Speaker 03 Anyway, my absolute favorite PG-13 golden goal naughty word, uh, not mentioned anywhere else that I've, uh, researched, was the one that got me out of my seat cheering like the president's speech in Independence Day is from Oblivion. Tom Cruise's character, uh, waits to the very end of the movie to deliver the perfectly timed line to his enemy. That movie stunk.
45:18 Josh Clark? Did it?
45:19 Speaker 03 Yeah.
45:19 Josh Clark? I heard the other one was pretty good, though, Edge of Tomorrow?
45:22 Speaker 03 Yeah, that was really good. Oblivion stunk. Uh, and he closes by saying mahalo, nui loa. Thank you very much, uh, for all you do to Infotanus, and that is Evans on kauai. Uh, yeah, sorry, Evans, Oblivion was no good. He said that he liked it a lot. But, you know, to each their own. I'm not gonna poo-poo his taste.
45:40 Josh Clark? Good for you, Chuck.
45:42 Speaker 03 Thanks for your game and your thievery.
45:46 Josh Clark? If you want to talk to me and Chuck about movies, we are always down for that. We love talking about movies. We should just like do an episode where we just say, "Have you seen this movie?" "Oh yeah, I love that one." For like a half hour. There'll be a couple of people out there that are like, "Oh, this is a good episode."
46:02 Speaker 03 There are podcasts like, exactly like that. You know that.
46:07 Josh Clark? What was I just saying? Oh yeah, if you want to get in touch with us, for whatever reason, movies or otherwise, you can tweet to us at @SYSKPodcast. You can join us on Facebook.com/StuffYouShouldKnow. You can send us an email to [email protected] . And you can join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushouldknow.com.
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